U.S. Data Center Construction Spending (Census, SAAR)

## What this measures

Spending on building data centers in the U.S. each month, from the Census Bureau's construction survey, expressed as an annual rate and seasonally adjusted, in billions of dollars. It is the "Data center" line under private Office construction; Census reports it separately from January 2014.

## Why it matters

It is the physical footprint of the AI and cloud build-out: the money going into the buildings, measured monthly by a federal survey rather than estimated from company announcements.

## How to read it

Higher means more data center construction under way. Each value is an annual rate: the yearly total that month's spending would add up to if it held for twelve months. Compare with general office construction (construction.census.private.office_general) and manufacturing construction (fred_tlmfgcons).

## What it does not say

It counts the building and the equipment built into it, such as power and cooling systems, not the servers, chips or network gear inside, which usually cost more. It is spending put in place each month, not new projects announced. The newest month is preliminary and recent months are revised.

## Source

U.S. Census Bureau, Construction Spending (C30), value of private construction put in place, seasonally adjusted annual rate. Public domain.